Essay: The Beatles Say It Best, You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Life is full of hellos and goodbyes. There are the hellos we wish we’d never made. The inevitable goodbyes that we never want to experience. The hellos we want to last a lifetime. The goodbyes we wish we had made earlier. In looking back on the last 7 months serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland, my life can be summarized in an ongoing collection of hellos and goodbyes.

I departed from the U.S. in June 2007 with an assignment to become a Community Health and HIV/AIDS Educator in rural Swaziland. I attended farewell parties, broke off relationships that would not endure the distance, parted with friends and coworkers, and hugged my loved ones before taking my spot in DIA’s airport security line. Upon arrival in Washington D.C., I said my hellos to fellow volunteers departing for Swaziland and Lesotho. After just a few days, my hellos extended to southern Africa where greetings were exchanged with Peace Corps staff, Swazi host families, community leaders and members, workers at non-profit organizations, school teachers and students, bus drivers and conductors, women selling fruits and vegetables in the markets, shop owners, neighbors, and children following me during my jogs.

During the month of December 2007, my collection of hellos and goodbyes was unique to the Peace Corps experience. I was the only volunteer to say goodbye to my Swazi family and fellow volunteers and travel home to Fort Morgan, Colorado where I spent the holidays with my family. It might have seemed strange to skip out on adventures in Cape Town, Durban, or Maputo but I knew I had to attend to important hellos and goodbyes.

My nephew, born a few months prior, awaited his aunt’s first hello. My grandfather, in his late 80s, was also awaiting the goodbye he would make to his family and friends following his last Christmas celebration. Although I remain a skeptic of destiny and fate, I believe that hellos and goodbyes coincide in an attempt to provide balance in our lives. Amongst the hellos to my family and friends during my trip home, I will cherish those few moments with the newest member of my family. Amongst the goodbyes to my friends and family, I will also appreciate the final Christmas with my grandfather.

Saying goodbye is never easy. But, as I have learned in Swaziland, saying hello (or ‘sawubona’ in siSwati) is also a challenging task. Each hello is an attempt to build relationships with people in a new and different culture. Each hello is a sign of respect for cultural norms, a practice in learning a new language, and a possible entrance into a conversation about HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Each hello is also a reminder that my time in Swaziland is not only difficult but temporary. For each goodbye that I will make during my volunteer service, I will have just as many hellos when I return home. And in overcoming the difficulty of making these good-byes and hellos, I grow stronger as my collection of greetings expands to reflect the emblematic experiences of life.